The present invention relates to improvements in truck type vehicles which include a front end telescoping boom which can removably carry a dispensing hopper like container to enable lifting, transporting, and depositing loads of particulate material into dusting or particulate material dispensing aircraft. While the idea of front loader vehicle using a box frame front end boom with pivotally carried hopper has been previously used, it has become desirable to provide a somewhat smaller and more compact boom installation for use when the quantity and weight of the material being loaded is not great enough to justify use of the larger and heavier front loader. This present invention provides such a compact installation.
A co-pending application Ser. No. 854,683, filed Nov. 25, 1977, illustrates an improved version of a prior art aircraft front loader with a box beam carrying a fixed hopper.
While the prior art does teach use of a telescoped single boom on a vehicle for lifting articles and with the boom being elevated by a hydraulic cylinder, see for example, Grove U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,180; Lambert U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,526, Johnson et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,801; and Brown U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,238; none of that art teaches a forward extended boom on a front loader with the rear end of the boom secured to a cross arm located to the rear of a vehicle cab, the cross arm being pivotally supported on the upper ends of laterally spaced upright beams, and with a hydraulic elevating operator attached to the boom and to the vehicle at the front end of the vehicle.
The present invention involves an installation on a truck vehicle which results in an aircraft front loader vehicle with a single forward projecting telescoping beam which can be securely installed on the frame of the vehicle with the beam projecting forward and with provisions for extending, retracting and raising the beam. A hook device at the front end of the beam is used to carry a suspended dispensing bag in the form of a hopper. A hydraulic safety device is included to provide a safety blocking abutment under the beam when it is in various raised positions.